Sick joke: Fury at first privately run NHS hospital's £4m loss

Unison calls for rethink after Hinchingbrooke makes multimillion pound losses in just six months

Bosses at Britain's first privately-run NHS hospital have asked for a bailout just six months after taking over.

In a major blow to Tory plans to privatise the health service further, contractor Circle racked up losses of £4.1million at Hinchingbrooke.

Now the firm, which is run by a former Goldman Sachs banker and has expressed an interest in running other hospitals, has been forced to ask the local NHS trust for a cash advance.

The hospital has fallen 19 places from the top of a Government league table of patient satisfaction since it was taken over by Circle.

Last night Unison health union said this raises big questions over Tory privatisation plans for the NHS.

Spokesman Anne Mitchell added: "This should force a rethink. Right from the start our view was a private company would not have the experience to run a large hospital like Hinchingbrooke.

"They made many claims which they are now failing miserably to deliver."

Almay

Big losses: Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said: "Patients are paying the price for David Cameron's eagerness to hand the NHS to private companies."

Circle took over running the hospital, near Huntingdon, Cambs, in February. Its £4.1million losses were double its prediction.

Hinchingbrooke has plummeted in the Government's new patient satisfaction league table - falling to 20th after topping it in May. Under its contract, Circle - run by former banker Ali Parsa - gets £80million a year in 12 instalments.

It said part of this was brought forward because of "cash flow problems". Circle said it had already secured £1.2million of savings and was on track to break even next year.

It added: "Short term slash and burn turnaround is not in our DNA, so we took a deliberate decision to invest up front to solve these structural problems before focusing on the financial issues."